Use in News Reports of Pictures from Social Networking Sites

Key Editorial Standards

Excerpts of key editorial standards relevant to this Guidance Note are set out below. Other editorial standards may also be relevant, depending on the specific circumstances applying in each case.

5 Fair and honest dealing
Dealing with participants

5.1 Participants in ABC content should normally be informed of the general nature of their participation.

5.2 A refusal to participate will not be overridden without good cause.

Secret recording and other types of deception

5.8 Secret recording devices, misrepresentation or other types of deception must not be used to obtain or seek information, audio, pictures or an agreement to participate except where:

a justified in the public interest and the material cannot reasonably be obtained by any other means; or

b consent is obtained from the subject or identities are effectively obscured; or

c the deception is integral to an artistic work.

In all cases, the potential for harm must be taken into consideration.

Mandatory referral

5.9 An appropriately senior ABC person designated for the purpose must approve in advance, having consulted ABC Legal, any proposal:

a to use secret recording during the production of content commissioned, produced or co-produced by the ABC; or

b to broadcast or publish material obtained by deception; or

c to broadcast or publish without attribution information that forms the basis of a report and the ABC is to be committed to protect the identity of the source of the information; or

d not to honour an assurance given in relation to conditions of participation, use of content, confidentiality or anonymity.

6 Privacy

6.1 Intrusion into a person’s private life without consent must be justified in the public interest and the extent of the intrusion must be limited to what is proportionate in the circumstances.

7 Harm and offence

7.5 The reporting or depiction of violence, tragedy or trauma must be handled with extreme sensitivity. Avoid causing undue distress to victims, witnesses or bereaved relatives. Be sensitive to significant cultural practices when depicting or reporting on recently deceased persons.

Mandatory Referrals

Under editorial standard 5.9, it is mandatory for an appropriately senior ABC person, having consulted ABC Legal, to approve in advance the use of a secret recording device or the broadcast or publication of material obtained by deception.

Use in news reports of pictures from social networking sites

Social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, MySpace) contain pictures that are accessible to mass media organisations. Persons in the pictures may become newsworthy, for example when involved in a natural disaster, accident or crime. Social networking online is evolving, and while in some ways these online spaces are public spaces, in other ways they are private to varying degrees. In many cases users can restrict access to family or friends. Or they may assume that their obscurity protects them, never contemplating that they might come to the attention of mass media. Potential use by mass media organisations of pictures obtained from social networking sites raises legal and ethical issues. When contemplating use in news reports of pictures from social networking sites, the following factors should be considered in light of the particular circumstances –

1. What was the newsworthy person’s reasonable expectation about the extent to which the picture would be disseminated? For example –

Is it obvious from the context that the person intends the picture to be fully in the public domain?

Did the newsworthy person post the picture himself/herself, or is the picture on someone else’s page?

Did the newsworthy person attach any conditions to the wider use of the picture?

Does the social networking site itself have well-known policies or tools to control how posted pictures become accessible to others?

2. Can the consent of the newsworthy person be sought?

3. When obtaining consent is not practicable, does the public interest in using the picture outweigh –

the reasonable expectation of privacy of the newsworthy person?

the impact that the intended use of the picture may have on any person who, whether or not in the picture, may be suffering grief or other distress?

the impact that the intended use of the picture is likely to have on any person who may just happen to be in the picture with the newsworthy person? Can this issue be dealt with by cropping or pixelating the picture accordingly?

4. What steps have been taken to verify the picture? This includes the identity of persons depicted and the authenticity of what is depicted. Digital images are susceptible to manipulation.

5. Have any relevant legal issues such as copyright, defamation or contempt of court been considered?

6. Would the picture, in the context in which the ABC proposes to use it, be likely to humiliate or otherwise do harm disproportionate to the public interest to be served by the use?

Status of Guidance Note

This Guidance Note, authorised by the Managing Director, is provided to assist interpretation of the Editorial Policies to which the Guidance Note relates. Guidance notes provide advice to assist in the interpretation of the Editorial Policies, which contain the standards enforceable under the ABC’s internal management processes and under the ABC’s complaints handling procedures.

It is expected that staff will normally act in accordance with the advice contained in Guidance Notes. In a given situation there may be good reasons to depart from the advice. This is permissible so long as the standards of the Editorial Policies are met. In such situations, the matter should ordinarily be referred upwards. Any mandatory referrals specified in Guidance Notes must be complied with.